When The BIG SHOW Punched a Fan!

In 1998, then known as The Giant, The Big Show found himself being heckled by a fan who would not back down until The Big Show had to take action in the form of a huge right hook that left the heckler, Robert Sawyer, with a broken jaw!

In this day and age, we live in a very social media heavy world, and you most likely would have seen by now through the eyes of social media that there is an unfortunate number of pessimistic people who will pick on wrestlers and personally attack them from behind the keyboard.

With that in mind, imagine if someone tried that nonsense in the real world, right to a wrestler’s face. Imagine even further that this happened not just to any wrestler, but to The World’s Largest Athlete, The Big Show! Not too bright, right?

What Happened the Night The Big Show Punched a Fan for Heckling

The incident took place at The Marriott Hotel, where the wrestlers would stay after performing at The Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. A witness that was at the hotel bar helped paint a picture of what happened, sharing what Robert Sawyer was saying to The Big Show. Comments like, “You’re so tough, you’re not that big. Go to another federation!” were just a few of the diatribes flying out of Sawyer’s mouth.

It wasn’t solely verbal, however. Sawyer tried, and let’s put a huge emphasis on tried, to get physical with The Big Show by shoving him in the chest.

“Paul Wight [The Big Show] is a 7-foot, 420-pound pro wrestler. They call him ‘The Giant.’ Last June [1998], after a wrestling match at Nassau Coliseum, The Giant went to check in at the next door Marriott Hotel. What happened next was caught on the hotel surveillance tape.

Thirty-year-old Robert Sawyer, 6’6” and 220 pounds, approached The Giant, who waved him off at first. Next, witnesses say Sawyer started gesturing and insulting The Giant to the hundred or so fans gathered there.

But when Sawyer made an obscene gesture [believed to have been the DX crotch chop], The Giant asked him to stop. Next, The Giant and some witnesses claim Sawyer pushed The Giant in his chest.”

Big Show was interviewed in the following days:

“I asked him very politely to stop doing all the cursing and stuff… And then he got up in my face.”

His reaction to being shoved, “Self-defense. I mean, it looks crazy coming from somebody as big as me but it startled me, it did.”

The reporter finishes off with, “This punch broke Sawyer’s jaw and landed The Giant in Nassau Criminal Court on charges of third-degree assault.”

The court sided with the wrestler here, and the charges were dropped. A couple of young fans attended the court hearing offered these words of support for The Big Show:

“You’re not supposed to treat him like that.”

“He was defending himself.”

If there ever was a way to shut a loud mouth up, The Big Show demonstrated how!